Introduction

Moon Tree is an entry in the 2015 Indie Game Maker Contest and was developed by Natbird and frostedparks. On the whole Moon Tree is just shy of being average on the quality scale. This is because it's held back by some questionable writing and graphical decisions. Though, on a whole I'd say it's about middle of the road so far for all of the entries I've looked at for the 2015 Indie Game Maker Contest.

Story

If I had to pick Moon Tree's worst aspect it would have to be the story. To be clear my issue isn't with the basic gist of the plot, but with the VR Helmet. My problem with this device is that virtual reality, by definition isn't real and as such the character can't be on the station itself. Yet with the way the game is presented were supposed to believe that my actions taking place in a virtual simulation are somehow having an affect on the physical world. This makes even less sense when our friend refers to our state on his station as a mere projection. How can a mere projection interact with anything? Maybe, I missed an important text box or two over the course of the game that explains this. And, if that is the case I apologize, but as far as I can remember these issues aren't really addressed and they really should be.

Outside of my issues with the nonsensical nature of the VR helmet the story also suffers a bit from how it shoehorns the letters from our pen pal into the story. In my opinion it would have been better to start the game with our protagonist writing a letter to his pen pal with a desperate request for a response or having the protagonist reading through old letters while mumbling about how communications between the stations are down because of the actions of stupid adults. As it stands the letters just feel shoved into the game in order to establish the type of bond between the protagonist and his pen pal in a way that completely breaks the flow of the narrative.

Gameplay

On the gameplay side of things the game is rather simplistic and mostly comprised of fetch quests where your either seeking items or information that you'll need to bring or utilize at another location. And unless you have a love for fetch quests this might become rather tedious or boring after the first twenty minutes. Thankfully the game is rather brief so this emphasize on simple fetch quests didn't last long enough to bore me. And, thankfully the game does throw the player a curveball in the form of a section where the player needs to dodge patrolling adults in order to reach a spaceship.

Graphics

On the graphical side of things the game does alright for the most part. The only questionable decision in my opinion is that while the VR Helmet is active the entire world is shown underneath a green filter. It just strikes me as odd that this game could take place in a technologically advanced future where man has colonized space, but never took the time to develop virtual reality beyond the days of the Virtual Boy.

Conclusion

Moon Tree isn't a bad game if your looking for a simple distraction, but unless you truly need some simple metal gear solid action without the threat of death or just have an obsession for doing fetch quests. I'd largely consider this game a rather forgettable experience that will help you kill half an hour.